Cold Play: The Dynamic Ice Duo!
by Ohohen
Summary: [Slight NejiTen SasuSaku] Team Kakashi, Asuma, Gai, Kurenai earn a free admission vacation break to Snow country as a reward for a mission. On the ice rink, Sasuke and Neji keep slipping and falling. Read to see how they plan on revenge...THE DUO RETURNS!
1. Trip to Snow Country, Alcoholic Chaos

-1**Okay, here's what happened. **

**My brother and sister take Ice Skating lessons. (My sister uses one leg to move and drags the other, causing one foot to be bigger then the other. O.o) So, it was a Friday, and they were holding this special thing, where you got to skate from 7:30 to 10:00. So, I skated, killed my feet, then left. (My sister, who was the one who was most enthusiastic about the fact that we were going skating, was the one who skated the least, since she wimped out.) Then, I thought of this story. **

**Aren't I brilliant?**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto.**

**Yup. Hinting pairings are in this one. And of course, it stars Neji and Sasuke. Again. ;;**

**Cold Play: The Dynamic Ice Duo! **

Trip to Snow Country, Alcholic Chaos!

"Ice skate? They have an ice skate rink now!" Ino said, wide eyed.

"Yup! Team Kakashi, Team Gai, Team Asuma, and Team Kurenai are all invited! For a semi-private skating session at their grand opening as a thanks for our last success on rescuing their village. Um…I think it was in Snow Country."

"Oh. I remember! Well, I'm going to tell Chouji and Shikamaru, ja ne, Forehead girl!" Ino waved goodbye.

"Bye Ino-pig!" Sakura waved her off, then went to look to meet up with her team.

Sakura skipped over to the bridge, where she met Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke.

"Ah, Sakura. You've arrived. I was just about to announce something." Kakashi said.

"Mm." Sakura nodded. "Is it about going to Snow Country?"

Kakashi winced, then smiled. "Up to date as always, Sakura."

Sakura nodded. "I heard it from Tsunade-sama this morning. All four teams of you, Gai, Asuma, and Kurenai are going."

"Yes. That is correct, Sakura."

"But…if what you say is true, exactly _when_ is this?" Naruto asked, inching forward.

"I don't know…" Sakura replied gloomily.

"Today."

"GEH!" Naruto and Sakura freaked. "Today!" Sakura exclaimed.

"Yes. Today it was announced and today it was assigned." Kakashi looked around for the nearest clock. "Hm…in just about two hours we must arrive at a boat with the others to get there. Well, let's get ready, and we'll meet at the entrance. Quickly though. Got it?"

Everyone nodded.

"Ah, matte, we don't need to buy skates do we?" Naruto asked.

"No. They're supplying us with that. Just bring your clothes, we're also spending two nights there at one of their new luxury hotels."

Sakura got stars in her eyes. Literally.

"Ah…! Luxury hotels! I can't wait!"

And they separated to get ready.

Sasuke sighed. Yet, another something that aggravated him. Packing.

Meanwhile, Team Gai had received the news as well. Lee was pretty worked up, and they had gone home to pack. That is, after another Gai-sensei and Lee moment, yet again.

"Hiashi-sama. I shall be gone for a couple days with Hinata-sama and my team, and we will return soon."

"Mm…" Hiashi nodded. "Be careful."

Neji winced at the comment. "Uh…Hai, Hiashi-sama. We shall. Arigato." He nodded, then left to his room, starting to pack.

Minutes later…

There was a knock at Neji's door. Neji looked behind him at the door.

"Come in." Hinata walked in.

"Hinata-sama? What is it?"

"Are you ready, Neji-nii-san?"

Neji nodded. "Mm. Just about." Neji lifted his bag and left with Hinata.

"Okay, Naruto; Here. Sakura; Here. Sasuke; Arrived. Everyone's here."

"Hinata, Shino, Kiba…My team has arrived as well."

"Ino-!"

"Shika-"

"Cho-!"

(A/N: I forgot if it was ShikaInoCho or InoShikaCho.)

"Yup. Mines here too." Asuma said.

"All my burning students of youth are present as well!" Gai said, proudly.

"Okay." Kakashi was the only one who replied.

"Yes! Let us set out for Snow Country!" Gai said. "Come my precious students!" He turned to the other jounins, with a small grin.

Kurenai winced, then grinned.

"Heh." Asuma closed his eyes.

"Hm…?" Kakashi had no idea then…"Oh."

"Last one there shall eat my dust! Come my youthful students! Let us show that we are the best among the best of these teams!"

Neji smirked. Tenten had a glint of challenge in her eyes as Lee, well, I think you know how Lee reacted by now.

"Yosh! Let's go!" And off they went. Like that. Poof. Right to the nearest port.

Everyone winced.

"Damn…they've been training."

"Hmpf. I'm not getting dragged behind." Sasuke left and disappeared along with the rest of Kakashi's team.

"I guess we should go too." Kurenai said finally.

"Let's go! Ino-Shika-Cho!" And off they went. Pretty soon they were all gone.

Turns out that the jounins got there first of course, with Kakashi and Gai tying. Neji tied with Sasuke, then came Lee and Naruto, then Tenten with Sakura in the last place. Behind them came the other teams.

"Why exactly do we always tie, Hyuuga?" Sasuke said, arms crossed.

"That, I'd like to know as well." Neji said in reply, arms crossed.

Sakura and Tenten sweatdropped. 'Great minds think alike?' they thought.

Naruto would be more worked up about the fact he lost to Neji and Sasuke, but he was too hungry for that.

"Mou…" He whined. "I'm hungry. Can we eat? Now?"

Kakashi smiled in amusement. "Let's check into the hotel, then we'll find something to eat before we start skating, now, shall we?"

"YES! LET US GO!" Gai said happily.

"Yes. I'm a bit hung-" Lee was cut off with someone's stomach growling.

Everybody looked at Naruto.

"Let's eat." Kiba said flatly.

"Yeah." Sakura agreed.

"Um…" Tenten held up a finger. "I think we need to **get** to Snow Country first? I mean, what are we going to eat? Leaves and salty water?"

"Hn. Seems like I'm not the only one who noticed." Neji smirked.

"Hmpf. My point exactly." Sasuke said.

Tenten laughed nervously.

"We should go. W-We wouldn't want to miss the ship." Hinata stated.

"Let's." Ino said, following the rest of the Konoha ninjas to the harbor towards the large ship that lay waiting for their arrival.

So, they got on the ship, and it wasn't a bad ride at all. With the nice, cool, sea breeze. Couple clouds for Shikamaru. Calm waves to stare at. That is, except when a certain area turned green because Chouji got a bit seasick from eating chips then going on a boat trip. No one looked in the water after that point.

Arrival…

"Wow…this village has really changed." Sakura said, looking around. The village they were staying at was the only village that didn't have snow. Or less of it.

"Yes. They set up adjustments after the last time we had visited them." Shino answered.

Naruto's stomach growled.

"Where's the hotellll…" He complained.

"Well, here we are!" Kakashi said, standing in front of a large building.

Silence.

"S-Sugoi…" Sakura stared, eyes wide enough to drop.

"I-It's h-huge…" Naruto awed.

"T-That's our hotel? The hotel we're staying at?" Kiba stared.

"Apparently, yes." Chouji stared, almost dropping his bag of chips. The rest of the jounins just grinned.

The hotel was like…a hotel that they had never seen before. It was several stories high, with plants, décor, water fountains, statues, the whole nine yards. (A/N: It's like…picture the best, richest, most expensive hotel you see nowadays.)

"Well, shall we go in?" Kakashi chirped. Almost. They all followed him in.

So, everybody went in and checked in.

Inside was decorated finely with the most expensive things you find nowadays. Pottery, china, flowers, rugs, silk…

They received these cards that were supposedly keys to unlock the door to their rooms. Kakashi with the two boys on his team. Asuma with the two boys in his team. Gai with the two boys on his team. And Kurenai watched over a separate room with only girls, while Shino and Kiba had their own room. Kurenai trusted them to be mature enough to have their own room.

All the rooms had a great view. Especially due to the fact that they were forty three stories above ground. Thankfully, no one was afraid of heights. Or, whoever was, didn't show it.

They were surprised to find that they had a three night fully supply of clothes in their room. It was…awkward. There was a note, asking if they would keep these clothes from gratitude, and to please enjoy.

Nobody wanted to be rude, not even Naruto, but the clothes showed a lot of…erm…skin. That was when they tried it on.

Ino looked at the large gap on the navy blue dress she received. Shikamaru did now want that much of his torso to be showing, especially when it was all the way down there. Chouji didn't want anyone to tell either.

Sakura felt very, very exposed wearing that dress. Naruto, heck, the threw it away once he tried it. Sasuke? A see through outfit? Not his type.

Hinata turned red. Let's just put it at that. Shino asked himself if they were crazy. Kiba just let Akamaru chew it up and spit it out.

Tenten decided to use the dress for target practice. Lee thought it wasn't comfortable, and Neji, HA! Threw it out the window. Yes. Mr. Punctual threw it out the window. Down from the forty third floor. And it hit somebody's head. And, they wore it.

For some reason, everybody kept looking at an area between that particular person's legs.

Everybody decided it'd be best to wear what they brought. Even the jounins.

It was pretty late by then, around eight, which was time for dinner. They walked down together, going into the hysterically large lobby at the map.

"…how do you read this thing?" Naruto scratched his head.

Sasuke stared for a moment. "There's a restaurant on the third floor sixteenth floor, thirty second floor, forty ninth floor, fifty second and the sixtieth floor." Sasuke paused. "Sixty?" he asked himself quietly, raising an eyebrow.

"It says that on the sixtieth floor, the restaurant has the best view of Snow country, while the floors of the restaurant move to give you an entire view of the city." Sakura read from the tourist guide.

"Why don't we just go there? It's pretty late anyway. This is getting troublesome and time consuming." Shikamaru was already bored.

"I agree. We should not spend so much time on looking for restaurants. Why don't we just take the sixtieth floor, as Shikamaru said." Shino added.

"Truce. We'll go to the sixtieth floor." Neji ended it.

"Hehe…let's just hope no one's afraid of heights! This is the sixtieth floor we're talking about!" Kiba grinned.

"Let's go! I'm starving!" Naruto whined, scurrying over to the elevator.

"I think we should go in separate elevators. One elevator is obviously not going to fit us…all…" The elevator door opened, and Asuma stopped talking.

"People who built this thing really knows how to extend the definition of 'large' to it's limits." Kurenai commented. It pretty much was a huge hotel . If they had been staying here by will, the bill would probably take up a life savings. Thankfully, they had quote on quote, "Earned" it. Not that they didn't work for it but…it was an unexpected encounter. Little more then expected.

Everybody got into the elevator, not squished at all. Even with Chouji. As they went up, everybody enjoyed the view from the ride up as well. (A/N: I don't think an elevator these days could fit sixteen people in one elevator, so just go along with the plot. Yeah…)

"Exactly when does the restaurant close?" Chouji asked.

"I saw it said it closed at midnight." Tenten replied.

"We've arrived. Let's get out before this elevator gives you a ride back down." Kakashi walked out…

And watched everyone else go back down.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

He sweatdropped. Guess High tech aren't always good tech.

Pretty soon, everybody came back up after a tired ride. Even Sasuke, Neji, and Shino were exhausted.

The Konoha Shinobis looked around. Hm. No wonder they had felt uncomfortable.

Everyone who was there were rich people. Wearing designer suits and clothing with full wallets and purses. Everyone was dressed formally…except the Konoha shinobis.

Kakashi sighed.

"I think this makes you want to change. So, the restrooms are around the corner, so go ahead."

"What about you guys?" Ino asked.

"We didn't bring our formal clothes." Kurenai answered.

"You just go ahead and hurry back." Asuma added. "Look around for us."

"And if you really cannot locate us, just have Neji or Hinata use their Byakugan." Gai thought for a moment. "In fact, stick with Neji or Hinata and never get lost!" Gai did a good guy pose with the ping. Ah…deafening…

So, all the genins went to the restrooms and changed, then came back out, with their clothes on. (A/N: No need for much of a description. It'd take too long. Boys wear suits, not ties, collar slightly open, girls wear dress with Tenten sneaking shorts under hers and that's it. No more. Neji has his hair down. Yeah.)

"Where are they?" Naruto looked around.

"Over there, N-Naruto-kun." Hinata pointed over a at large table in a so seemed reserved room.

They all walked over there, carefully trying not to invade anyone's privacy, even though it was hard not to.

They all sat down at the table that had been four tables put together, one team on each table. (A/N: No need for explanation, would only be useless information. Let's just say it just so happened that Sakura was sitting next to Sasuke who was sitting next to Neji who was sitting next to Tenten and end of story and that's all I'm going to say.)

Four waiters came out, one for each team. They greeted them happily, saying thanks for the successful mission before, then started to take their orders. Their tables was In a separate room, one that was made for private parties.

Naruto looked at the menu. All the dishes, he had no idea whatsoever what they were. So, he started to read the descriptions below until he found something that satisfied him. As did everyone else.

"Well, I'll order this." Kakashi said, pointing to the dish on the menu.

The server nodded, then asked what he wanted to drink.

"Mm…what do you have?" he asked.

"Well, we have…" The waiter started to go on and on about a list of wines. Then, lastly, he included Sake'.

Kakashi laughed nervously, scratching his neck. "Uh…yeah…I'll have that and Sake, if that's what you recommend."

"Mm! Okay then!" the waiter started scribbling on his notepad.

The rest of them finished ordering, then started to have a conversation.

Or…rather started one.

"Okay, here you go!" The waiter started passing out the dishes. Heck, they didn't even have their appetizer yet.

Everyone twitched. "That was…fast…"

So, they dug in. The food wasn't that bad. It had an interesting taste to it. Except the fact, that everyone fell dizzy and tired after that point.

Nobody knew why, that is, until Lee went into his drunken frenzy, _Drunken Fist_ mode. That, was when they all realized that the food contained wine.

Ino, Shikamaru, and Chouji fell asleep. Naruto and Sakurawere like while Sasuke made his best efforts to hold his head up, with help from his arm. Finally, he couldn't help it, and fell face first into his rice balls and fish.

Shino kept shaking his head and Kiba kept snoring. Hinata had blush from the wine dose. Tenten was rubbing her temples while trying to help Neji and Gai keep Lee under control. Neji kept losing control and slipping off Lee's legs. Finally, when Lee went under control, falling asleep in the process, Neji let go and plundered to the ground, sleeping. Tenten couldn't help it and fell off her chair beside Neji, with Lee collapsing on top of both of them.

Only the jounins managed to stay under control, besides a slightly weak Kurenai who was weak against alcoholics. They all helped the genins back to their rooms.

Although it was kind of hard. So, Kakashi took Naruto and a fish sauce covered Sasuke back up to their room. Asuma with a surprisingly light Shikamaru and reluctantly took Chouji as well. Gai took Lee and Neji on his back, and Kurenai with Sakura, Ino, Tenten, and Hinata, but since she couldn't carry four at a time, Gai decided to be go into working hard youthful mode and carry Tenten for her, since Tenten was on his team and all.

All the genins had a slight blush on their face. Even Lee after his unexpected drunken fist frenzy. Shino's were barely visible though. But they were there. Sasuke had a blush too. It was just covered with fish and fish sauce. That's all.

Kurenai changed all the kunoichis clothes when she got back to the room. As did all the other jounins.

It was another long, surprisingly tiring day. Yet again. Tomorrow, they'd be going to the new Indoor Ice Rink, where'd they get to enjoy their time skating around on a large area covered in sick ice.

Joy.

…or so it seemed…

**Ohohen****: Well, that's the first chapter. The first chapter is just an introduction/epilogue or whatever. The next chapters will be focusing on the main point. Plot. Whatever. **

**Buahahahahahaha…I have got to draw a picture of all of them drunk…**

**Hm…I'm going to take a guess and say that you guys enjoyed Sasuke just falling over into his plate of fish, and fish sauce covered Takoyaki. Oh…Imagine that! **

**Then Neji just plummeting to the ground, then Tenten, then Lee! Falling across both of them like a bed! Hahahaha…Laughs away!**

**Please review!**


	2. Arrival At The Battleground

-1**Hm…I didn't get a lot of reviews for the last chapter, but it's not your fault. The story was published when it was around 11:30 pm, and usually people on the East Coast have gone beddy-by, so no one read it. One review was all I had received. And that, I'm thankful for.**

**One thing though…**

**NO ONE ENJOYED THE SASUKE FALLING INTO HIS DISH PART? **

**I thought that was the most funniest thing I've read…Oh well.**

**Disclaimer: Naruto isn't licensed to me.**

**Enjoy.**

**Cold Play: The Ice Duo**

Chapter Two: Arrival At The Battleground

Naruto woke up to the bright light of the sun. He put his hand up to shield his eyes. He felt a bit dizzy and laid back down, arms spread out on each side.

In doing this, he startled a certain fish smelling covered face shinobi who was sleeping on another bed beside him.

Sasuke blinked his eyes open. He felt something on his nose.

"Nawuto-" he said, in an unusual tone.

"Mm…" Naruto shifted to the side, moving everything, EXCEPT FOR HIS ARM.

"Get. Yo. Handsh. Offe. Maieh. Facesh." Sasuke noticed that Naruto wasn't moving, so he decided to quit playing nice and take his hand of his face, trying to break his arm in the process.

"GAH! SASUKE-TEME! WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING!" Naruto screamed. This, of course woke up Kakashi, who yawned, and sat up. He rubbed his eyes.

"Yo…Ohayou…" (A/N: Remember, I'm CHINESE. NOT JAPANESE. Got it? This is from memory when I saw an episode.)

Kakashi winced.

"Eh…Naruto? Sasuke? You're all better?" Then, he held his nose. "…Sasuke…go to the bathroom…"

Naruto sniffed the air. Then he held his nose too.

"Sasukeh-temeh…go to the god damn bathroom…you smell like…raw fish."

Sasuke winced innocently. He looked at his wardrobe. He was wearing his navy blue sleeping clothes. He remembered that he was trying to stay awake at the restaurant, and then that was it. He didn't change or anything. He looked at Kakashi. 'Kakashi-sensei must of changed for me he thought.

Sasuke felt his face very uncomfortable. He touched his face. It was sticky with an oily touch with it as well. He sniffed. His face wrinkled up. He felt something in his hair. Sasuke reached up, and felt around his hair.

Suddenly, Naruto and Kakashi burst out laughing.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow. "What's so funny?"

Naruto shook his head while laughing. "Nothing! Nothing! I'm going to go shower first then!" Naruto made a break to the restroom while laughing his head off.

Sasuke stared. Kakashi was still chuckling.

"Well, Sasuke. Get ready. We should be leaving soon. Don't want to make the others wait." Kakashi got up and walked away. He was still chuckling. Sasuke just stared. What was it exactly that was so funny?

"Mou…Kurenai-sensei…what exactly happened last night to us?" Sakura asked. The girls had woken up the earliest among the group, and now were trying to clarify what had happened last night.

"Well…" Kurenai gave a sigh. "The food, turned out to have a large dose of white wine in it."

"Wine?"

"It's a new alcohol." Kurenai said. "Look." He pointed at the bottle in the corner of the table nearby. It was a neatly packed wine bottle.

"It's red." Tenten said. "So, if that was added into our dishes, we would of noticed."

"Yes, but there are other types of wine. The wine added into your dishes was white wine. It's clear."

"Oh. No wonder." Sakura said a bit flatly.

"Gosh…no wonder I fell asleep…" Ino thought out loud.

"I hope we are careful not to eat there a-again…" Hinata added.

Kurenai nodded.

"What exactly happened again, Kurenai-sensei?" Sakura asked.

"Hm…" Kurenai pointed at Sakura. "I remember seeing you, Sakura. You seemed to be pretty dizzy, and passed out, still dizzy."

Kurenai pointed at Ino. "You, had fallen asleep leaning over on Shikamaru's elbow a bit…" she pointed at Hinata.

"You were blushing madly. Probably not from embarrassment though. You fell asleep after that." then she moved to Tenten.

"You kept rubbing your temples while trying to make your effort to stop Lee. When Lee was under control, you just tumbled over beside Neji and just slept, like Neji did. Then Lee fell on top of both of you."

"Oh…" they all said, deep in thought with a slight blush exposed.

"Lee."

…ZzzzZZZ…

"Lee."

...ZZZzzz…

"Lee…wake up…"

…ZZZZZzzzz…

Neji closed his eyes. 'Must I get Tenten?' he thought. 'Tenten was the only one who ever managed to get Lee up anyway…' Then he thought of the possibilities of what might happen if he went into the girls room. Chaos. 'Then again, maybe not.'

Neji was sitting on his bed, leaning over trying to get Lee up. He shook his shoulders with one hand over and over again.

"Lee!" Neji was the first to wake up that morning. He decided he'd ask Gai what had happened later on.

Neji sat back and moved his foot instead. Pushing his shoulders.

"Lee! Wake up!" Neji sighed. He decided to go to shower, and wait until Tenten came. Or something. Jyuuken. Then use _Hakkeshou Yonshou_ on him or something. He'd advance to One twenty eight if he had to.

Neji took up a pair of clean clothes to change out of his night clothes. He went into the bathroom.

Moments later…

Neji came out, with his hair wet, shirtless and trying to put on his shirt. Suddenly, Tenten burst in somehow. He saw the key in her hand…

That is, right before he got slammed into the wall by Tenten.

Tenten heard that she hit something and moved the door. She gaped, blushing.

Neji's shirt was on his head. His torso still showed.

"N-Neji…gomen ne…" She helped him up, not being able to do anything but stare.

"Please knock the next time you come in, Tenten." Neji said, shirt still on his head as he stood up.

Tenten flushed. She took off his shirt and handed it to him, just staring in the process, since Neji was just so lean, since he was only wearing his shorts and his shuriken holder.

Tenten watched as Neji slipped on his shirt, still blushing.

"Tenten," he said when he was done. "Get Lee up. I can't get him up." he sighed of defeat.

"Huh? Oh, uh…sure." Tenten hurried to Lee and quickly woke him up, just like that.

Meanwhile, Neji woke up Gai. He shook Gai's shoulders a bit, then Gai shot up, hitting Neji's face in the process. Neji fell back on the ground against the wall.

Tenten jerked her head around. "Neji!" She hurried over to him. "Daijabu, Neji?" Tenten stared at the blood that ran down Neji's nose. Poor Neji. This was not his best day.

Tenten grabbed a tissue and started to wipe his nose for him. Neji took her hand instead, in attempt to take the tissue. He wiped it off. But the blood still came so Tenten helped a bit more, then went to the bathroom, getting a wet tissue and handing it to Neji so he'd stop the nosebleed. Tenten may have like Neji, but not enough to want to stick something up his nostrils. (A/N: BUT WE SHALL SEE NOW SHALL WE! Big NejiTen fan here.)

Gai quickly apologized to Neji and started helping him with then nosebleed as well. But, being as strong as he was, it only made Neji's nose bleed more. So Lee came to help, but made it even worse! Now everyone was gathered around Neji trying to help. Goodness…have pity on Neji!

Finally, Tenten just felt too sorry.

"Gai-sensei! Lee! Why don't you go shower? There are two restrooms correct?"

Gai and Lee nodded, then quickly went to shower. Tenten removed Neji's hand and decided to do it herself.

Poor Shikamaru. He was pretty close to dying when Chouji accidentally rolled on top of him during his sleep. Thankfully Asuma shoved him off. No wonder Shikamaru was breathing shallow.

The teams had to go meet each other downstairs at the lobby. Kurenai went to check on Shino and Kiba. They were fine, sleeping as they were. Though Shino had a bit of trouble sleeping because of Kiba's snoring.

Tenten opened the door and started walking out behind Gai and Lee. Neji closed the door behind him.

"Tenten."

"Huh?" Tenten twirled around gracefully.

"Thank you."

"Oh uh…don't mention it Neji. We're teammates, that's what we do. Like friends!" Tenten smiled and continued walking with Neji behind her.

Each team took the elevators down to the lobby, looking out at the view of Snow country once again. Neji asked Gai what had happened last night, and when Gai told him, he flushed. Just a bit. With Tenten sleeping beside him and him getting dizzy because he was a bit drunk. Especially with Lee falling on top of him. Man, that must have been embarrassing!

Kakashi's team was the last to come out, since Sakura had went to tell them it was time to leave then left, she was at the lobby already. She didn't see Sasuke, so she presumed he was in the shower.

When Kakashi, Naruto, and Sasuke came out, everyone gasped.

Kakashi and Naruto were smiling, while Sasuke had his usual facial expression.

Everyone snickered. Except for Sasuke and Sakura, who just laughed nervously. He raised an eyebrow. "What?"

The pointed at his head. Then held their noses and laughed. It stunk, but it was funny.

"What!" Sasuke exclaimed, frustrated.

"Sasuke…kun…" Sakura nudged Sasuke from behind. Sasuke turned around.

"Look at me." Sakura said sympathetically.

"I am." Sasuke made a face.

Sakura took a deep breath. "Okay, now look at yourself." Sakura stepped out of the way, revealing Sasuke to the clean glass that was behind Sakura.

Sasuke gaped. His jaw dropped. Literally.

Sasuke's hair…was a cockatoo's. Literally. It was even more like it, with all that sauce which had acted like gel to keep it up as he slept. Sasuke had bits of rice and fish as well as traces of fish sauce in his hair. It smelled too. His face was covered in it. PLENTY of it.

"NNNNOOOOO-!" Sasuke screamed. He glared at the laughing group that was all on the floor, except for Neji and Shino, who were still laughing, pointing, and holding their stomachs.

"S-Sasuke-kun?" Sasuke turned around and glared at Sakura, then it softened at her soft, sympathetic expression.

"W-What…?" He asked in reply.

"Would you like me to get it out for you? The fish? It'd be humiliating to do it here…" she said.

Sasuke thought for a moment, then agreed.

"Aa. Thank you."

Sakura shook her head. "It's okay." She started to take out the fish in his hair, then started wiping his face with a wet paper towel when they got to the nearest bathroom. Both of them flushed at the touch and how close they were. Sasuke's were barely visible, but still present.

Sasuke went upstairs to Sakura's room, since it was the closest on their floor, and went into the bathroom. Sakura waited outside for Sasuke as he washed his hair. Soon enough, he had came out, and they went down the elevator together to meet the rest of the group.

They had all recovered, Neji, Shino, and Shikamaru first, from the laughing.

"Hn…" Neji smirked. "You didn't like you new hair style, Uchiha?" his arms were crossed.

"Very funny, Hyuuga." Sasuke glared.

"Well, is everyone here?" All the jounins nodded.

"Okay, let's go get some breakfast, then go the ice rink now shall we?" Kakashi smiled. The genins and chuunin nodded. (Shikamaru:chuunin.)

So, instead of going to that same place as last night, they went to a local shop outside. Thankfully, it had just had just opened up, and it fit exactly sixteen people.

The food was very, very good. It was oriental, as well as western food with fries and hamburgers. Even with a good basket of juicy tomatoes…

After that point they headed towards the ice rink that was a couple blocks down. Everyone stared at the landscape, how tall and elegant he buildings were. It truly was breathtaking. Not like anything the shinobis were used to.

They arrived a large dome like building, that was very wide. They entered through the automatic doors opened with a swoosh, to find a humongous ice rink. There were a few people skating around, experts and beginners of all ages.

"Oh! You must be the Konoha shinobis! Welcome to our brand new ice rink!" a man came up neatly dressed and welcomed them.

"Greetings my dear enthusiastic friend! Will you please escort us to-" Gai was cut off. Skates were immediately dropped in front of all of the shinobis, who gradually grabbed them before the blades chopped of their poor toes.

"There you go!" the man said.

"A-Ah…thank you…very much…" Gai said, holding the skates as the man grinned madly.

"Do enjoy your stay! If you need anything, just ask! Have fun!" the man walked-er-skipped away.

Everyone winced and just stared at the skates, then the skates, then the man, then the skates.

"The bleachers are over there. Let's put out skates on over there." Asuma pointed. All of them walked over to the empty bleacher and sat down, tying and putting on their skates. It took a while, but since they were ninja, it was quicker the a normal citizen.

They all put on their jackets, and started towards the ice rink.

Sakura's was pink of course. Hinata's was a light blue, Ino's was a shade of blue, and Tenten's was a gentle shade of red.

Couji's was a bit green, Shikamaru dark green jacket, Shino wore a color a bit darker then what he was wearing now, Kiba didn't need one. Lee's were green, Neji's was a dark blue, Naruto's was a black with orange speed designs, and Sasuke's was navy blue.

The jounins wore black jackets with white design.

(A/N: You guys would complain if I didn't tell you what they looked like, so I just made some up.)

One by one they got on, and surprisingly, it wasn't that hard. Chouji had to learn how to balance because of his size, so he was literally _figure skating_ on the ice. Ino took lessons and had played on the ice with Shikamaru before too as well, so it was a breeze for both of them.

Naruto, Sakura, Hinata, and Lee had to go around the rink once before they got used to it, and began to slowly pick up speed. Shino, Kiba, and Tenten, once they got on, they moved along, well balanced. Kiba wobbled slightly, but he was okay. Tenten tripped once or twice but brushed it off. The jounins were enjoying their time as well. Skating and talking. Gai did a triple loop in the air. The jounins clapped, then laughed when he slid into the wall.

Oh…you must be wondering what Sasuke and Neji are doing huh? Well…

"AH! WATCH OUT!"

_**CRASH!**_

Sasuke and Neji ran into each other for the fourth time in the first five minutes they were on. They helped themselves up, and _tried_ to skate again, but Sasuke kept moving and wobbling and accidentally picked up one foot, not putting it down, so he kept crashing into the walls at each end while trying to keep his balance with one foot! And when he stood up, HE FELL! Every time!

Neji just couldn't get it right. If he fell, he could get up easily, but when he did he just wouldn't move! He just stood there. When he took one step, he moved himself so fast, he was at the other end and ran into a wall like **_SMACK!_**

So, Neji is can get up but can't move (Or moves too fast) and Sasuke can barely move but can't get up! Because he keeps falling!

Oh my…what's in store for our two prodigies next? Well, falling and slipping sure catches a lot of attention so…

ALL of the Konoha Shinobis EXCEPT for Sasuke and Neji just fall on the ice (Or grab onto the side wall) And start laughing like hooligans at them of course!

Then, they start skating, then they snicker at them every time they skate past them! Oh what torture!

Tenten skated slowly over to Neji.

"Neji?" Neji looked UP at Tenten. Neji would of glared, but since this was TENTEN, he didn't.

"What?"

"Do you…need some help?"

Neji shook his head no.

"You seem to be having a bit of trouble though."

"No. I'm fine. Thank you for caring." he stood up.

"Okay then…" Tenten skated off, snickering at Sasuke who glared daggers at her.

"Sasuke-kun! Let me help you." Sakura skated up.

"AH HA! Sasuke-teme can't skate!" Naruto laughed and skated off.

"No. I'm fine." Oh he was fine alright. Mighty fine after he just got pissed off because of Naruto.

"Are you sure?"

Sasuke nodded. "I'll be fine. You go ahead."

"O-Okay…then…I'll see you…I guess…" Sakura skated off.

Sasuke ATTEMPTED at standing up, and fell square on his behind. Again.

'Damn…' he cursed. 'Should have stayed with Sakura when I still could…' He looked around, and noticed that Neji had the same trouble as he did. He watched as Neji stood up easily and just…stood there.

'Why isn't he moving?' he thought. Then, he watched Neji take a tiny step then…

Fell flat on his face.

Sasuke made an effort to not laugh, so he snickered.

Neji on the other hand was on his bottom and started to stand up with ease in one quick swoosh. He stood up and looked around. Sasuke was on the ground-er-ice. He decided to watch him for a moment…

Sasuke decided to try and make the best of his time, so he stood up. Or, tried to.

Once he TRIED to stand, he fell.

And this made the Hyuuga hold the urge to laugh. So, he snickered, as Sasuke did earlier.

Sakura had came around for another skating round, stopping by Sasuke, who's rear end was sore from falling.

"Sasuke-kun…?" Sakura stopped by, bending down.

Sasuke tempted to not glare, and it worked, since this was Sakura and all…(A/N: CoughcoughMAYBEMINORCRUSHINSTORYcoughcoughcough…)

"What." Sasuke looked up. The first thing he noticed was Sakura's hand. Sasuke stared, with a half shocked half confused look at Sakura. Sakura smiled, blushing.

"Sasuke-kun!" she said again. Sasuke winced. Then, a small smile came up on his face. Just a small one. Then it turned into a smirk.

Sasuke took her hand and used Sakura's support to stand up. Then, they started skating.

"Neji!" Tenten had stopped by as well. Neji looked up, wanted to glare, but just couldn't. He just couldn't.

Tenten held out her hand, blushing slightly.

"Huh…" Neji flinched. He looked up at Tenten.

"Hehe…" Tenten cutely tilted her head to the side, her other hand on her knee, bending over.

Neji smiled. He took Tenten's hand and stood up, easily getting up even without her help. Surprisingly, skating around with Tenten wasn't so hard either.

So, for the rest of the time, Sasuke and Neji skated around with Tenten and Sakura hand in had. They managed a few laps, before leaving.

When they left…

Tenten and Sakura were in the front, so they didn't hear anything.

They didn't hear everyone pointing and teasing them for falling on their rear ends and needing a GIRL'S help to skate around. They were still going at a slow pace.

"PRODIGIES NO MORE!"

That quote, was the one that REALLY made Neji and Sasuke twitch. Badly.

So, with a determined look on their face, they decided to make out a plan. Being the Neji and Sasuke they were.

Neji looked at Sasuke, who just stared back. They winced, paused, then smirked, nodding.

Sakura and Tenten gave a look back, slightly confused. Tenten just shrugged it off and continued walking.

'What's with that look…?' Sakura thought, walking alongside Tenten out the door, back into the hotel.

It was time for dinner once again, and since the hotel had room service, they decided to order from there.

THANKFULLY, they had things that had SATISFIED their appetites. Sasuke had just finished his main course, and had just picked up, eating away at his tomatoes. He had an sudden look of determined look on his face, sitting on his bed. Naruto just stared at him, half eaten his ramen.

Neji held up his chopsticks, which held a piece of rice. He smirked, with a confident expression on his face, sitting on his bed.

"Hn…" was all he said.

A bewildered Lee watched as he chewed up rice, then for some reason, bending down and taking a piece of his food and setting it in his mouth, chewing. Neji wasn't looking either.

Lee had brought and requested the curry of life, which was exactly what he had received.

"Naruto, pass me some sauce." Sasuke gave a sideways look at Naruto, who didn't feel like arguing, and went to fetch some sauce for him.

"What kind?" he asked, with some soup on his face from slurping.

"Any, just hurry up dobe."

Naruto glared. "Shut up or I'm not handing it over…" he said. There was only one sauce that was given, and it was the sparkling red one. Naruto thought that Sasuke, being Sasuke, knew which one he wanted, since this was the only one and all. He picked up the sauce and tossed it over to Sasuke, who caught it with one hand and started pouring it all on his other meal, since he decided to save his tomatoes for later.

Naruto stared…'All that curry of life sauce…Well, at least now I have an absolute answer if Lee asks me if I used the curry sauce or not…' he thought. 'But ALL THAT CURRY OF LIFE SAUCE!' Naruto stared, wide eyed. (A/N: Episode 157 at the end… "My eyes have gotten a bit watery."-Naruto. Those eyes.)

Naruto watched as Sasuke lifted the spoon with ALL THAT CURRY OF LIFE SAUCE on his food and put it in his mouth.

'I know! Neji must finally have taken a liking to the curry of life! I knew he'd pull through!' Lee thought, eyes burning with a fist.

Lee had added as much curry as he possibly could get his hands on. So much, his rice didn't look like rice at all. More like miniature glowing red peppers and other ingredients.

Lee watched as Neji set the rice in his mouth.

Everything, including Naruto watching Sasuke, seemed to be in slow motion. Finally, when it got into their mouths…

"HHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTT!"

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

"LLLLLLEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

"NAAARUUUUUUTOOOOO!"

"NOT THIS AGAIN!"

"WHAT THE HECK IS THIS!"

"I CAN'T BREATHE!" Choke, choke, choke away…red in face…

"GET ME SOME WATER DOBE!" Gag, gag, gag away…red in face…

"YES! THE CURRY OF LIFE HAS MADE MY WORTHY RIVAL VERY ACTIVE! MAY YOUR YOUTH BURN ON!"

"Shut up! You're the one who asked for sauce. And sauce I gave you. SINCE THAT WAS THE ONLY ONE SASUKE-TEME."

"WWWWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAATTTTTTTTTTTEEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRRRRR!"

**Ohohen****: Eh hem…yeah. Sasuke's first encounter with the curry of life. Neji says and starts off with "Hot" then Sasuke and goes in a pattern. Self-explanatory kinda.**

**Well, I would of updated sooner, but just didn't feel like doing it at 11:30 at night where no one's gonna read it, so yeah. **

**Completed at 7:23 PM April 13, 2006. Charlotte, North Carolina.**

**13 pages.**

**NOTICE: This will be submitted on the 14th. **


	3. Beginning Preperations

**Hm…weird. I thought there would be more people reading this story. Since I personally think it's pretty funny. J**

**Disclaimer****: I don't own Naruto.**

**Is it the summary? I can't think of a good summary. I mean, what? PLEASE READ VERY FUNNY THE END? I don't know. That wouldn't be very good. It'd be best if it did tell you a bit about the actual story. Which it does. But not many people read it though. I mean, it does feature the Dreaded Tricksters right?**

**Cold Play: They Dynamic Ice Duo!**

Chapter Three: Beginning Preparations

It was the next morning yet again. And the Konoha shinobi were all eating breakfast at a local resturaunt downtown. Yes. Snow Country was that huge now.

They were all eating this unusual food called 'Pancakes', 'Waffles', 'French Toast', 'Bagels' and 'Muffins'. Each shinobi could choose from the many stacks of plates of this…new food. Not that they minded. It wasn't that bad. But it made the feel a bit…_fat_. Except Chouji though. He'd enjoy it anyhow.

'Better start training immediately when we get back to Konoha…' They thought. Except Chouji who was too busy gnawing on a biscuit. With butter.

"This is the table of the Konoha ninjas, I believe?" a young, formally dressed man came up to their table.

"What? Are you the server?" Kiba asked.

The man shook his head.

"No. I just came to deliver this to you." he handed out a brochure to everyone on the table. And a dog treat to Akamaru, of course.

Akamaru did an 'Arf'.

The man smiled and pat Akamaru gently.

"A skating contest?" Sakura looked up at the man. Naruto bit into a piece of his syrup smothered pancake, while paying attention. Everyone was eating and reading the brochure as well as paying attention as well.

How?

Um…they're ninjas. Duh. They're supposed to be able to multi-task. And if they don't then THAT'S TOO BAD. They do here. :P

"Yes. We noticed that you guys didn't do the semi-private skating lesson, since you seemed to have control over skating." he said.

Sasuke and Neji twitched, moving their eyes, not wanting to catch anyone's attention.

"So, since we also saw you enjoyed your time there, we would like to announce that there is a figure skating competition four days from today. So we would like you to stay a bit longer, if you would like."

"What about the hotel? We're not paying for it, are we?" Asuma asked, raising an eyebrow.

"No! No! Of course not! We'll cover the hotel and all the expenses! Like we are now!" He assured hastily. "So will you stay?"

All of the Konoha shinobis wondered exactly WHY they wanted them to stay. But they didn't think it mattered. And it really didn't.

They all nodded. The man's face lit up.

"I suppose a longer vacation would hurt no one." Kurenai thought out loud.

"I-I enjoy staying in Snow Country…So I would like to stay longer." Hinata added.

"Yes! Skating was very exciting yesterday!" Lee burned up.

"Lee…your food is already hot…" Tenten said, not wanting to touch Lee in case of receiving a first degree burn.

"Okay! Then it's settled. We'll stay until a day after the figure skating competition." Kakashi confirmed.

"We should tell Tsunade-sama about this…" Kiba murmured.

"Ah…don't worry. We shall take care of that Kiba-san!"

"Uh…o…kay…" Kiba didn't know what to say…

"Hai! I shall go report this right away!" The man scurried off.

The Konoha Shinobis finished their meal, and were now walking around the streets.

"Oi, Kakashi-sensei. Where exactly does all this information go to?" Naruto asked. "And…where are we going now?"

Kakashi looked down at Naruto.

"We have to get our tickets for the Figure Skating competition! I don't believe they'll actually send them to us, even if we're the guests of honor."

"We won't have to pay for them, right?" Kiba asked Kakashi.

"Iie. I only said that we were going to get them, not buy them. And if we did have to pay for them, I don't think we would be staying any longer."

They all arrived at the same dome they were at yesterday, in other words, the Ice Rink.

Surprisingly though, Sasuke and Neji didn't seem to have any particular reactions to the view, even if they were badly humiliated yesterday.

"Hm…Where could it be…" Kakashi looked around for the Ticket Booth.

"It is over there, Kakashi-sensei." Hinata pointed over at a building with a four large lines. It was said, "Snow Country Figure Ice Skating Competition". It was decided into four sections, two of which they saw said, "Tickets" and "Sign Up".

"Well, it seems that the lines are very long, but some are shorter then others." Asuma turned to the genin and chuunin.

"We'll go to separate lines and meet back right here, okay?" Kurenai asked for confirmation from the smaller ranked ninjas.

They nodded, and they parted.

It turns out that three of the lines were for the tickets, depending on how you pay, or if you're just here to pick up. The last line was one to sign up for the next year figure skating competition.

All the shinobis of Konoha either went to the first, second, or third lines. The last line, the one where you sign up, was the shortest. No one bothered going there since they had no tickets to sell there.

Sasuke and Neji walked around and blended in with a group that was going to the third line, then quickly dispersed to the fourth one.

They waited in line, and finally, the were the last customers and people to sign up.

The ticket holder was just about to greet them, until she recognized who they were.

"We would like to enter the Figure Skating Competition, please." Sasuke said, hands in pockets.

"And we request that we will be partners in doing so." Neji added, arms crossed.

"I-I'm sorry…" The holder blushed crimson of their presence. "I just sold out the last place and we can't t-take anymore…"

Sasuke and Neji exchanged looks. Then, immediately, they disappeared.

"And-eh?" The holder looked around. 'Where'd they go?' She wondered.

Suddenly, she felt a warm breath on both sides of her neck.

"I'm sure you can make…" Sasuke started seductively.

"An exception for us…" Neji continued seductively.

"Correct?" Both finished seductively.

The ticket holder dared no to turn her head, as she felt that they were so close that she could feel their breaths on her bare neck.

She slowly lifted her hands and signed them both up, handing them both passes.

"P-Present this to the guard, and they shall l-let you two in…"

Sasuke and Neji satisfyingly took the admission tickets and nodded to each other. They went back to their former places.

"A-Also, there is a private skating rink in a separate room from the public one, so if you just show your pass, they'll let you in a-as well."

"Thank you." they said, leaving.

The holder laughed nervously, waving dreamily to them as they left. She had no idea if she was to feel bad or good inside.

Sasuke and Neji looked around at their meeting spot. They were the first ones back.

About a half an hour later, all of the ninjas were back.

"Hey, how'd you get back so quickly?" Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at them.

Sasuke and Neji paused for a moment, thinking of an excuse.

"The people in front of us was a large group, and they decided not to go because they had another activity to attend the day of the Competition." they said finally.

"Oh. Lucky." Naruto frowned.

"Now that we have our tickets, why don't we go do some more skating?" Kakashi suggested.

Everyone nodded.

"Yosh! Let us go!" Lee made a fist and hurried in.

Everyone winced, sweat dropping.

The Konoha guests of Honor entered, kindly asking for their skates and going out to the skating rinks. Sasuke and Neji took their skates as well, but they went into the bathroom for a couple minutes, purposely waiting for the rest to finish tying their skates and setting off to the ice rink once again.

When they had left, Sasuke and Neji crept stealthily out of the rink doors, showing the pass to the guard at the front entrance for permission to take the skates out of the Public Ice Rink.

"Do not let anyone know this. We ask this as a favor."

The guard nodded, and watched confusedly as they crept out to the back of the public ice rink.

"Ah…you must be one of the Konoha Shinobis!" One of the two guards exclaimed.

"Can we have your autographs?" The other one said.

Wince.

"S-Sure…"

Automatic doors opened, and two figures entered.

"Let's go."

Sakura skated around, noticing someone was missing.

'Where has Sasuke-kun gone to?' She thought.

Tenten was thinking the same thing.

'Neji's not here. Where'd he go?' She wondered. She'd ask Lee, but everywhere that Lee skated became thin ice, so she decided not to.

"I'm sure wherever he is, he'll be fine. Being the prodigy/genius he is." They thought out loud. (Sakura said Prodigy referring to Sasuke, Tenten said genius referring to Neji.)

About twenty minutes before they had to leave, it was about 6:30 PM. They had already left for lunch, unknown to where Sasuke and Neji was.

Of those twenty minutes, Sasuke and Neji came back, looking just fine on the outside, but inside, they were entirely numb and sore all over. Cold, too.

"Sasuke-kun!" Sakura had just skated past one of the entrances to the rink, and saw Sasuke and Neji walk in. She stepped out and hurried over to Sasuke's side.

Tenten noticed that Sakura had stepped out, and wondered what she was doing. She was so consumed in what Sakura was doing, she didn't notice that she was headed towards a wall. But Neji did. He had saw her skate past the entrance.

"Tenten! Watch-"

"Huh?" Tenten turned her head to the front, but it was too late.

_**CRASH!**_

She had already ran into a wall.

Neji walked over with his skates on, to peer out of the entrance to see if Tenten was okay, even if she was on the other side. He peered out, wincing.

Tenten rubbed her head painfully.

"Augh…" She stood up slowly, skating over to Neji. Neji watched as she did so.

"Neji, where were you? Even Lee wondered where you were, I bet."

"Sasuke-kun, where were you exactly?" Sakura asked.

"Nowhere in particular. It doesn't matter now." Sasuke walked passed Sakura, and Sakura felt that Sasuke was very, cold.

Tenten watched as Sasuke and Neji walked out to the ice rink again, and yet again, started to trip and fall.

"Hey, Tenten. Does Sasuke and Neji seem cold to you?" Sakura asked, walking over to Tenten.

Tenten nodded.

"Yes. Sasuke was cold too?"

"Mm."

Both girls stared at the two prodigies, who had continued with their falling.

They sweatdropped.

Yet again, Sakura and Tenten skated out to the rink to the two boys, helping them skate around arm in arm, hand in hand.

They only had fifteen minutes of skating time, so pretty soon, they had to leave.

"Oi, Neji. Where exactly did you go, anyway?" Tenten asked, leaning in on Neji.

"It doesn't matter now. I'm here right now." he replied, shifting a brief glance at Tenten before continuing to walk away.

Sasuke and Neji would have stayed behind with the group, but they didn't want Sakura and Tenten to notice that they were twitching from the insults, yet again.

"So…what are we going to have for dinner?" Chouji asked while headed out of the Ice Rink.

"Well, we were introduced to a new resturaunt not so far from here." Kurenai said, pulling out a traveler's guide the Jounins had received earlier today.

"No alcohol?" Ino asked.

"No alcohol." Asuma said, thankfully.

All the genin and chuunin sighed in relief.

(A/N: Speaking of all the genin and the chuunin, I was just watching episode 185, and the ending was FREAKING HILARIOUS! Everyone had one of those baby 'Onbaa's. EVERYONE! Lee, Sakura, Ino, Tenten, Neji, EVEN AKAMARU AND TON-TON! It was adorably hilarious. X3)

So, they arrived at the resturaunt, with happy service, and everyone was happy. Everyone got what they wanted, (The Waitress slipped Sasuke an extra basket of Tomatoes to-go for his looks.) and everyone left happy. (A/N: Oh my gosh, IHOP Commercial. XD)

After dinner, it was 9:30, with still a half an hour to go. So, they all decided that they'd go wherever they want to tonight in particular, just warning if anyone goes into trouble no one can help them if they can't.

So Naruto, Sakura, and Kakashi decided to go shopping around before going to the movies with Lee, Gai, and Tenten. Team Gai decided they'd go food sampling around and shopping before they left. Team Kurenai heard of a nature walk and exhibit just outside of the Snow Country, not so far away so they went there. Team Asuma went to watch a Parody play that Shikamaru had caught sight of when they were headed towards the resturaunt. Pretty soon Team Kurenai decided to watch the Parody with Team Asuma as well.

When Naruto and his group was leaving for shopping and souvenirs, Sakura noticed that Sasuke was walking the other way. She stopped and turned around midway.

"Sasuke-kun? Where are you going?" She asked.

Sasuke turned to look at her for a brief moment, then turned away.

"No where in particular. Just some business I have to take care of." and started walking away, hands stuffed in his pockets.

"Hm." Sakura made a concerned face, then walked away. (A/N: As you can see, I don't like making Sakura so chirpy.)

Neji walked away from his group too.

"Oi, Neji. Where are you going?" Tenten asked. Lee and Gai had already sped away, going stall to stall.

Neji looked at Tenten as he spoke

"Somewhere not too far from here. I shall return soon." and turned away, walking.

"Okay then…"

Private Ice Rink

"We have much to cover."

"I know. We should get started on the routine pretty soon too. We don't have much time."

"Agreed. Let's."

That night, Sasuke and Neji returned to the hotel a half hour later then the last Konoha Shinobi that had entered. They crept silently into the room, quickly showering and then going off to sleep, with an unusual smirk on their face in the process.

Naruto stared at his dear closest teammate and friend. He raised an eyebrow.

'What's up with him?' he thought.

Lee was thinking the exact same thing.

'Neji returns later then the rest of us. Where could he possibly have gone? Why is he smirking in such a way? Hm…'

That night, for some reason, Sasuke and Neji had nightmares about the Curry of Life. They were sweating and they pulled their covers over their head. This, only made poor Naruto to be more confused. But he was too tired to care. But being the great friend that he is, he got up and grabbed a tissue out of a nearby tissue box that sat on a small nightstand that was between he and Sasuke. There was another one between Kakashi and Naruto as well.

Naruto poked him. "Oi…Sasuke-teme. Your sweating." Sasuke turned the other way, back towards Naruto.

"Sasuke-teme…you're going to smell tomorrow if you don't get up!" He shook Sasuke by a shoulder.

Sasuke turned the other way, and took down his covers slightly to reveal frantic eyes and a lot of sweat.

Naruto raised an eyebrow.

"Sasuke…do you have a fever?" Naruto felt his head.

Naruto immediately pulled away, shaking his hand.

"You're really sweaty, Sasuke-teme! What nightmare did you have?"

"You don't want to know, Naruto." He mumbled under the covers.

"Sheesh." he started wiping Sasuke's head with the tissue. Sasuke winced. He'd care, but he didn't feel like it. So he let Naruto continue. Naruto did always seem like a brother to him anyway. Besides, he hadn't had this warm, welcoming, family relationship feeling in what seemed like ages now.

Kakashi was secretly watching them.

'My, my…isn't that nice…I knew they'd get along just fine…like long time brothers…'

Pretty soon, Naruto fell back asleep, and this time, Sasuke dreamt…dreamt about winning something…with Neji…and then Sakura came and…

"Neji." Lee nudged Neji. Neji was frowning. He stirred, shuddering. He turned to face a half-asleep Lee, when he opened his eyes.

"What…"

"You are sweating. Badly." Neji just now noticed that his headrest was very wet. With sweat.

"…Oh."

"Are you okay?"

"I'm not sure…"

Lee studied Neji's bright read sweaty face.

"Neji-kun, you must have a fever…" Lee felt Neji's face. Neji blinked as he felt Lee's hand on his forehead. Neji was breathing shallowly.

"No…it's not that…" Lee thought for a moment.

Then…

"I KNOW! YOU HAD A NIGHTMARE!"

Neji would hit Lee upside the head if he weren't so exhausted.

"Let me help you." Lee crawled behind him, grabbing a tissue and starting to wipe his head. Then, he ran into the bathroom to get a wet towel and cooling off Neji's face.

"Here." He handed Neji one too. Neji started, but then Neji was too weak to move, so Lee just continued.

After a while, Lee leaned in on Neji slightly, with a suspicious, yet amusing look.

"So…Neji-kun…what nightmare _did_ you have that haunted you so badly?" he asked.

Neji made an effort to glare, then turned away.

"Or was it a dream?" he continued.

"To you it would be. Let's just put it that way." Neji covered himself again.

"Thanks for caring." He said. "Now get off my case and go to sleep."

"No no need for gratitude!" Lee said, springing tears. "We friendly rivals shall always help each other when in need!" Lee started burning up again.

"Lee…you are going to burn the sheets if you continue." Neji stated flatly, back still turned.

"Oh…hai…" Lee laid back down and covered himself again. "Good night, Neji-kun."

"Hn…Good night…"

At this point, Gai was crying the Pacific by now.

**Ohohen****: I had wanted to finish this a long time ago, but I never brought myself up to it. Now that it's summer, I have to work a lot more. (And I'm only -Insert my age here- D: ) Yeah…sucks.**

**I have another idea on my head about Naruto. And I just need to figure out the planning. Yes…**

**I was just watching episode 84-86 again. Yay Itachi. Beat up that little prick of a brother you have. :D Go Jiraiya! W00t!**

**Ah yes…Tsunade and her inhuman strength. Go show Superman that we females are actually useful in this male-dominated world of ours! (They can't even give Tenten an episode to herself. D: With all these fillers and such.)**

**One more thing. If you reviewed by the name of 'Angst-sama' on the Neji and Sasuke series, I'm sorry if you found the story OOC. But, that must mean you review the same thing for every single Naruto story you read, just about. All you say is OOC, don't you? Well, I guess that's too bad for you. I just don't feel like caring about your ridiculous review anyway. You just added a point to my review. Some people don't even read the reviews. They only look at the number. And thanks to you, my number went up.**

**There's this one thing I don't like about this story. The way that it goes Sakura, then Tenten, and it's just the same thing. Then Naruto and Lee, just about he same thing. Gai and Kakashi, SAME THING. -Sigh- **

**Damn…this was a long chapter…**


	4. Tension

-1**I should start updating. Yeah. I know.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto. Or the copyright.**

**Yeah. Enjoy.**

**Cold Play: The Dynamic Ice Duo!** (I am so not in the mood for exclamation marks…)

Chapter Four: Tension

Day after day they went to the private rink. Hour after hour they trained.

"Tomorrows the day…" Neji murmured pass Sasuke as they skated.

"Mm…" Sasuke nodded.

"We should try the routine some more."

"Good idea."

They each gathered to the entrance, and skated out to each corner of the ice rink, then skating around to the center at the same time, then leaping up into the air and twirling, then landing on their foot, with the other foot up and leaning forward, skating around the rink. Then, Neji skated towards the middle, leapt right before they hit the center, then landed in the center, moving his feet to blend into a Kaiten.

Sasuke then skated around, closing in on Neji as he did, then, he leapt up and landed right on top of Neji's Kaiten, twirling along.

After a while, Sasuke back flipped off Neji's Kaiten, with Neji still spinning without his Kaiten.

Then, when Neji stopped, he immediately started to skate around like Sasuke did, until they were in sync, and across the rink from each other. Then, they took a sharp turn towards the middle of the rink again, the grabbed each other's hands, then leapt into the air, twirled, then landed on the ice again, still holding hands and twirling. Then, they pushed off each other and landed the same distance from each other and every wall around them, twirling on one foot and the other foot in the air again. Then, they switched and crouched down lower to perform another move…

When they finished, the collapsed in the middle of the rink, panting.

"We should try to extend our stamina. We still can't pull off the finishing move." Sasuke told Neji.

"I never thought ice skating would be such stress on our chakra…"

"Me neither…"

They both sighed.

Neji and Sasuke entered the public rink, tripping again, purposely. Sasuke held the wall and went over to his team, while Neji watched as Tenten skated over.

"Neji, where have you been?"

"Nowhere important."

Tenten scowled.

"You're getting me worried, you know that?"

Neji just started at Tenten.

"What?"

Neji shook his head and tried skating away, instead, falling flat on Tenten.

"GAH! Neji!"

Tenten pushed Neji off of her and helped him up.

"I still think it's so funny the way you fall on your face. But this time, you had a cushion."

"Hmpf."

Sakura gasped.

"Sasuke-kun!" she skated over to him and helped him over to their team.

Naruto was still laughing at him. Sasuke glared. He still laughed.

"Well, Sasuke. Having problems skating?"

"Hmpf."

"You have an attitude problem too, I see."

Sasuke didn't say anything.

It continued for an hour, skating that is. Before Kakashi called it quits and lead them all to a resturaunt.

On the way, Kakashi remembered the resturaunt they had saw before. Or, he had.

'Hm…what was it called again? _The Island_, was it? It sounds interesting…' then he thought, 'But we had also discussed that we'd go to the other one, and we have to go tomorrow…huh…'

"Eh, wait." he commented shortly, one hand in pocket the other in the air to represent a halt. Everyone turned their attention to him, with a questioning expression readable on their faces.

"I have to choose between two restaurants, and we only have today for dinner and lunch. So, I presume, Gai and the rest of us jounins will go to the one I saw today for lunch. Then, you guys will go to the one that we were headed to a couple minutes ago. We'll go our ways, so since this is the last day, you can run around on your own, and dinner, you go to a restaurant called _The Island_, and we'll go to the one you went for lunch. Then continue running around, just not into trouble. Got it?" The genin and chuunin nodded, then he turned to Asuma, Gai, and Kurenai.

"Is that okay with you three?"

They nodded. "Sounds like a reasonable plan." They walked over to their teams to talk with them for a moment before leaving. Except for Gai, of course.

"Well. I know what to expect from you three, just do what I said and I'm sure nothing will happen." Kakashi told them.

"Do we have to stick together?" Sasuke asked, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

Kakashi thought for a moment. He knew that the other jounins heard what he had asked, so he replied, "That'll be up to the other jounins' choices. I say you can split up as long as you're done with the resturaunt, and then…" he reached into his pocket and pulled out some small headphones that were small, and hung on your ears. Then he took out three watches, with a small screen. "Use these to communicate. The headphones are for listening and talking, while the watches are a choice of who you want to talk to. You have a choice of talking so that only you're team can hear, only the person who you're talking to can hear, only the selected teams can hear, all the teams can hear, or the selected people can hear. You can also communicate with other teams and team members, with the same options."

Kakashi paused and thought for a moment.

"And the watches tell time."

"I trust you all, you guys should be smart and intelligent enough to stay together, and you can split up if you want, and I think Kakashi already said the rest that needs to be said, so just be careful and you'll be fine." he handed them the communicators.

"Well, hopefully you guys were smart enough to listen, so yeah." Asuma handed them the communicators and turned around, leaving. "Be careful."

"YOSH! Please be careful everywhere you go, watch out for your teammates, and may you have fun in the springtime of youth!" Gai started walking forward, and Team Gai **KNEW** what was coming. And two of them didn't like the thought of it.

'_Oh hell…'_

'_Oh shit…'_

"COME HERE MY FELLOW STUDENTS AND PUPILS OF YOUTH!" Gai spread his arms out wide and tried to hug them. Lee just stood there ready to receive the hug of the fountain of youth from his sensei, while Neji and Tenten _tried_, oh how they _tried_ to get away as fast as they could, but…

Gai succeeded.

"Eugh!"

"Augh!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

The other teams just stared at Team Gai like O.o. Except for Shino. Because his shades don't do that.

"PLEASE BE CAREFULY MY FELLOW STUDENTS AND PUPILS OF YOUTH!" Gai cried.

"I WILL GAI-SENSEI! DO NOT WORRY!" Lee cried in reply.

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI"

"LEE!"

"GAI-SENSEI!"

It started, again. And the worst thing was, Neji and Tenten were stuck in the middle of it, caught up with it.

Neji tried to twitch, but couldn't. For reason that he was being pushed, pulled, and squished all at the same time. Tenten just wanted to yell in pain and agony, but due to the lack of air, she couldn't.

Pretty soon, they left, and the genin (with the chuunin) all left to the restaurant. It was an Italian one, they say. Though they had no idea what 'Italian' was. But the food was good, especially the 'Spaghetti' and 'Garlic Bread'. They had no idea what it was, but it was good, which was all that mattered. Afterwards, they paid with the money that Kakashi gave them, or, gave tips actually, since they ate free.

They all walked off, into their separate directions, as did Neji and Sasuke. Tenten was worried, wanted to follow, but decided best not to bother. He didn't want to turn out like another Sakura or Ino relation with Sasuke, so he just told Neji to be careful, and watched him leave.

Sakura on the other hand, was worried about Sasuke, and showed it.

"Sasuke-kun! Stay with us. It'll be better…"

"No. I have business to take care of. Just do what you want." and he walked off.

"But Sasuke-kun!" the only reply she got was Sasuke's back towards her as he walked away.

Sakura sighed. She turned around to meet Naruto, only to find that he wasn't there.

"Naruto?" she looked around. She ran around, hoping to find Naruto, but instead, ran into someone.

It really shouldn't be a 'Someone' since--

"Sakura?" Sakura looked up at the person she had ran into.

"Ino?" Sakura blinked.

Tenten looked at Sakura from behind Ino, and Hinata came in front.

"S-Sakura…?"

"It's you? Sakura?"

Sakura nodded. "I didn't see you there, Hinata, Tenten."

"Neither did we." Tenten replied.

"Oh…" Sakura then remembered she was looking for Naruto. "By the way, have any of you seen Naruto?"

Tenten shook her head. "No. I just met up here."

"N-Naruto-kun went with Lee to try some ramen at the ramen stand nearby." Hinata answered.

"Oh…"

"Why don't you follow us?" Hinata suggested.

"Yeah. Lee's with Naruto and Neji left somewhere, so I'll be here too." Tenten added.

"Yeah. Why don't you Big Forehead?" Ino grinned a challenging grin.

"Who said I wouldn't, Ino-pig?" Sakura grinned right back at her.

Tenten beamed happily. Hinata smiled.

"It's good that we can stay together."

Tenten shook her head. "Well, yeah. We kunoichi never get credit for doing anything…" she sighed.

"So, we should s-stick together, Tenten." Hinata replied.

"Hehe…yup."

Something hit Ino all of a sudden.

"Hey, you know I saw a really nice designers store on my way here…"

Sakura grinned mischievously. "…and since we don't have to _pay_ for it…"

Hinata just stared. Tenten gave an inward groan.

'No…'

Before they knew what hit her, Sakura and Tenten was already pushing her to the large and stylish store written in sleek text.

"This is…this is…"

"I know, Kurenai. I know."

"YOSH! Let us enter with pride filled hearts!" Gai pushed Asuma and Kurenai into _The Island_. But of course, Gai didn't know what it was…

"Kakashi…don't tell me that you knew all along." Kurenai glared daggers at the back of Kakashi's head.

"Hm…?" Kakashi turned around. "Knew what?"

"You know…about _The Island_." Asuma glared too.

"No. I don't." Kakashi faced forward and continued walking.

"Welcome!"

Kakashi had a face on.

Gai had a O.o

Kurenai covered her eyes, looking away, holding her forehead.

Asuma twitched uncomfortably.

"AH!" Sakura and Ino squealed, holding hands and leaping up and down.

"Eugh…"

"…"

Tenten shivered. Hinata was red all over.

"That's so CUTE!" they squealed.

"I feel weird…" Tenten pouted. She looked over at Hinata. She was looking at herself in the mirror.

Tenten walked over to Hinata. "Lavender fits you, Hinata." she smiled.

"T-T-Thank you, Tenten. You look nice in yellow."

Tenten laughed nervously. "It reminds me of a banana."

"You have to get that, Hinata! Tenten!"

Hinata nodded uncertainly, but she still agreed.

"But…but…didn't we get enough?" Tenten was wearing a plain black sleeveless top and a light yellow dress that reached below her knees. Everyone was wearing about the same thing, slightly different designs, and color. (A/N: I absolutely HATE explaining clothing, but Sakura's was pink, Ino's was blue, Tenten yellow and Hinata Lavender. Gosh. What a waste of time.)

"We each only bought five outfits. You guys got three." Sakura pointed out.

"Yes, but what about…" Hinata was cut off.

"Kurenai-sensei asked me to, Hinata." Ino told her.

"But that totals…" Hinata stopped.

"….**Thirty two **outfits…" Tenten finished.

"Yeah, so?" Sakura raised an eyebrow.

"But…don't you think that's…_a lot_?" Tenten asked her.

"No." They said in reply.

Hinata and Tenten sighed.

"We'd have to get _at least_ sixteen anyway. For all the clothing one each for everyone."

Hinata and Tenten gave up.

"Whatever you two say…"

Neji was practicing his moves, using less chakra and more moves without tiring himself, or lessening the quality of the moves. He was at the point where he and Sasuke had to meet in the center, until he heard a beep in his ear.

"Eh, wait Sasuke." Neji stopped. Sasuke stopped and skated over to Neji.

"What is it?" he asked. Then, Sasuke heard a beep in his ear. He held his communicator pressing it against his ear as it was attached.

"Oi! Sasuke-teme, we discussed that we'd meet at dinner at 8:30 got it? And where the hell are you? We've been trying to--"

"Just shut up. Go eat your ramen or something."

"HMPF. In fact, I WILL." and then Naruto was gone. Sasuke looked over at Neji, to see how he was doing. At first, there was no sound, but then, all of a sudden, Neji and Sasuke's hair flew back from the noise coming out of Neji's headphone. Sasuke held his ears and head, but unfortunately, Neji couldn't since if he did it'd only make it worse.

"YOSH! NEJI MY GREAT RIVAL! WE HAVE DISUSSED THAT WE WILL MEET AT _THE Island_ AT 8:30! I CHALLENGE YOU TO SEE WHO SHALL GET THERE FIRST! AND YOU WILL NOT DECLINE MY CHALLENGE FOR THAT MEANS THAT YOU ARE BACKING DOWN AND I SHALL BE--"

"LEE. YOU CRACK GLASS WITH YOUR VOICE. HUSH."

"YOSH! DOES THAT MEAN YOU ACCEPT MY CHALLENGE MY WORTHY RIVAL?"

"…If you agree to shut up and not bother me while I meditate at training when we get back to Konoha, then fine."

"YOSH! YOU SHALL NOT REGRET IN ACCEPTING THIS CHALLENGE! I SHALL--"

Neji cut him off. He took off his headphone and started rubbing his ear.

"This is worst then Dosu's attack with Lee during the chuunin exams."

"What? I can't hear you." Sasuke made a confused face.

"I said that the damage that Lee did to my ear was worse then Dosu's attack with Lee during the chuunin exams."

"Speak up. I still can't hear you!" Sasuke frowned. Neji was starting to get made. A vein popped into view.

"I SAID, THIS DAMAGE IS WORSE THEN THAT OF LEE'S WHEN DOSU ATTACKED DURING THE CHUUNIN EXAMS!"

"Oh…" Sasuke snickered. Neji sighed.

"Let's just get started…"

"What time is it, Neji?"

"Can't you look at the watch?" Neji frowned.

"Can't you look at your watch? It tells time."

"Oh sure…it's 4:00 am Neji." Sasuke glared.

Neji raised an eyebrow. "Did your watch overheat or something?"

"Probably. I guess you're not he only one who needs to try and tone down power."

"Mm…" Neji checked his watch. He raised his eyebrows. "8:25...am…"

"Let's just say it's 8:25 PM. I have a feeling yours actually tells us something unlike mine…4:00 AM…"

"We should get going then."

Sasuke nodded, and they skated towards the exit, taking off their skates, readying themselves to go to dinner.

They went around until everyone met together at _The Island_. Well, it was more like one group came after another every ten minutes type of thing, but they still came together.

But it was a time like this, that they'd rather be stuck in the middle of Lee and Gai's hug...

**Ohohen****: Hehe…I bet you guys can guess…**

**Sorry for the long update. I'm trying to update as much as I can, so then I can get back to my summer project, and starting on my CCS stories. And Megaman, of course. XP I never really intended to make a Naruto story before, actually. Only CCS. But then Megaman came, and then Tales of Symphonia, but that was only a single one-shot. Then Naruto popped up. Yeah…**

**I guess this isn't the second to the last chapter after all. More like the third.**

**Completed 8.8.06 6:00 PM Charlotte, North Carolina.**

**Weird how I finished at EXACTLY Six o'clock...**


End file.
